Wenzel Wins in Warsaw

Sunday, August 11, 2013

arly on Saturday morning, 984 players descended upon Warsaw to test their mettle in Standard. A week after the World Championship and the World Magic Cup had set the stage, most of them entered the fray with Jund midrange or Gruul aggro, and as a result these decks were well-represented in the Top 8. Many of the top players, including World Champion Shahar Shenhar, signed up with UWR Flash, but none of them got quite as far. Besides Jund, Gruul, and UWR, there was a large variety of other archetypes running around the top tables as well. We've seen Tyrant of Discord and Conjurer's Closet in the same deck. We've seen Demonic Rising plus Mutavault. We've seen the resurgence of Bant Hexproof and Zombies. And we've seen all kinds of different flavors of red-green being represented, from Craterhoof Behemoth to Predator Ooze variants.

In the end, though, it turned out that Arbor Elf, Domri Rade, and Thundermaw Hellkite were the cards that nobody had an answer to—at least when it was Wenzel Krautmann asking the questions. Krautmann's Top 8 matches went blisteringly fast. Flinthoof Boar, Hellrider, and Thundermaw Hellkite entered the battlefield tapped and attacking, and defeated opponent after opponent. In the finals, he faced off against Rookie of the Year Felipe Tapia Becerra, but the Chilean's puny Zombies were no match for Krautmann's red and green haste creatures.

What deck did you play and why did you choose it? Black-Green Rock. Just a nice deck versus the metagame. It won five games against Red-Green Kibler, won against Blue-White-Red, Hexproof, and Elves/tokens. Still, it's only a coinflip versus Jund.

In Game 2, Rachid lacked the enchantments to beef up his creatures, though he had a nice play: With Geist of Saint Traft on the battlefield, he played Silverblade Paladin and chose not to soulbond with the Geist right away. Instead, he soulbonded with a 4/4 Angel. This pushed through more damage, but it was not enough. Most of the creatures that Rachid had drawn quickly fell to Kolacinski's Olivia Voldaren. Rachid only had Selesnya Charm and Simic Charm in his deck to get rid of the legendary Vampire, but didn't draw any of them and succumbed.

In game 3, Rachid lost his early offense to Bonfire of the Damned and Golgari Charm. Afterwards, Olivia Voldaren took over again. 1 counter, 2 counters, 3 counters, 4 counters, 5 counters. After the dust settled, only an 8/8 Olivia Voldaren and a 1/1 Gladecover Scout were left standing, with Rachid at 20 life and Kolacinski down to 3. Because Kolacinski still had Abrupt Decay in hand for any aura that Rachid might draw, he felt safe to go for the damage race. It worked: two turns later, at only 1 life, Kolacinski attacked for lethal.

Michal Kolacinski defeats Denniz Rachid 2-1

érémy Dezani (Jund midrange) vs. Przemek Oberbek (Golgari midrange)

In game 1, creatures were destroyed by removal spells left and right. Eventually, we got into a Liliana of the Veil standoff, where both players had the planeswalker in play. They took out each other's hand, and the game turned into a topdeck race. Though it wasn't a fair topdeck race, as Oberbek had Underworld Connections in play. Over time, it generated enough card advantage to hand the first game to Oberbek.

Przemek Oberbek (left) vs. Jérémy Dezani (right)

In game 2, Dezani got out Garruk, Primal Hunter and Olivia Voldaren. Oberbek mustered Descration Demon, but sacrificial Beasts made sure it wouldn't be entering combat. After a while, Dezani's cards just had more impact on the game, and the match was tied at one game apiece.

Game 3 was a long and hard-fought affair. Early on, Oberbek seemed to have the upper hand with Demonic Rising and Primeval Bounty. In particular, Oberbek had the combo of Demonic Rising plus Mutavault. By animating Mutavault in the first turn only, he got two two 5/5 Demon tokens out of his enchantment. Despite that impressive synergy and the card advantage provided by Primeval Bounty, Oberbek drew into a land clump, got down to a low life total, and was threatened by Dezani's Kessig Wolf Run and Scavenging Ooze. In a crucial turn, Oberbek missed the final Swamp needed to kill the Ooze with Mutilate, which allowed the Ooze to tick up and up and up. After many turns with complex combat math, Dezani's mana sinks overpowered Oberbek's enchantments, and Dezani was ecstatic that he had managed to pull it out.

Jérémy Dezani defeats Przemek Oberbek 2-1

elipe Tapia Becerra (Jund Zombies) vs. Yann Robin (Naya Midrange)

In Game 1, Tapia Becerra played Falkenrath Aristocrat while Robin was stuck on 3 lands. A Blood Artist and a Geralf's Messenger later, the" zombie" deck (note: actually only 1 Zombie in play) had taken the first game. While sideboarding for the next one, a nervous Tapia Becerra started whistling.

Yann Robin (left) vs. Felipe Tapia Becerra (right)

In Game 2, Robin's second-turn Loxodon Smiter faced off against Tapia Becerra's second-turn Lotleth Troll. Robin added Avacyn's Pilgrim and Borderland Ranger to his board, attacked with all of his creatures, and activated Gavony Township. That was a big turn. But Becerra was not to be outdone. He had removal spells to take out some of Robin's creatures and, crucially, he turned his Lotleth Troll into a great blocker. He discarded Olivia Voldaren, he discarded Falkenrath Aristocrat, and he tossed out another creature. It may have been tough to see them hit the graveyard, but he got a 5/4 regenerator out of it. The huge Lotleth Troll first held off Robin's offense, and eventually attacked for the kill.

Semifinals — Jérémy Dezani vs. Felipe Tapia Becerra

by Tobi Henke

érémy Dezani playing Jund in a Grand Prix Top 8 is nothing new, he's done it before and before, but facing him now was Felipe Tapia Becerra, the 2012–2013 Rookie of the Year from Chile. And Tapia was playing Jund as well, even if his particular version had little in common with the midrange deck piloted by Dezani. Tapia led an army of Zombies and a few select Vampires into battle.

Semifinals — Wenzel Krautmann vs. Michal Kolacinski

by Tobi Henke

ermany's Wenzel Krautmann had come close to winning a Grand Prix several times before, closest last year at Grand Prix Moscow where he made it all the way to the finals. Would he make it to yet another Grand Prix final here? Standing in his way was Polish newcomer Michal Kolacinski. The latter was playing Jund, the former brought an almost exact copy of Brian Kibler's Gruul deck.

Liliana of the Veil and Doom Blade meant that in game two Kolacinski was the one who had the first creature that stuck around. Actually, the first two even, in Huntmaster of the Fells and its trusty Wolf token. Krautmann tried racing with Hellrider, but when Huntmaster number one transformed and was joined by Huntmaster number two, he was overrun eventually.

arlier this year, Felipe Tapia Becerra triumphed over Wenzel Krautmann in the quarterfinals of Grand Prix Quebec City. In this final match of the weekend, could Krautmann turn the tables?

The Players and the Decks

Wenzel Krautmann is an experienced player from Germany with several Grand Prix Top 8s under his belt. Notably, he had made it to the finals of Grand Prix Moscow last year, but so far, however, a win had eluded him.

Felipe Tapia Becerra

Rookie of the Year Felipe Tapia Becerra from Chile is on a tear as of late. After leading his team to a 10-place finish at the World Magic cup, he stayed in Europe for another week to play in this Grand Prix, and made it all the way to the finals.

As for the decks: we got a matchup between Tapio Becerra's Jund Zombies deck versus Krautmann's Domri Gruul deck. You only had to look at the plethora of aggressive creatures in these decks to know that the games would be fast. Lightning fast. And they were.

In game 2, Tapio Becerra started with turn 2 Lotleth Troll, but missed his third land drop. Krautmann wasted no time: he had the impressive curve of turn 1 Elvish Mystic, turn 2 Scavenging Ooze, turn 3 Hellrider, and turn 4 Chandra, Pyromaster. Krautmann activated his Planeswalker to make sure that Lotleth Troll could not block and swung in with his team, putting Tapio Becerra down to 10. Tapio Becerra's next draw step did not provide an answer, and Krautmann rode his Hellrider to victory.

Tapia Becerra, still smiling because he was happy to have made it to the finals, extended his hand and congratulated Krautmann on his victory.

Wenzel Krautmann defeats Felipe Tapia Becerra in two fast games.

Top 5 Cards of Grand Prix Warsaw 2013

by Tobi Henke

hese were the cards that shaped the tournament, that sparked discussions and were most debated, that won games and matches, and turned Grand Prix Warsaw into an event to remember...

There is no creature in all of Standard that even comes close to the mighty Shapeshifter when it's time to finish games. An unstoppable force, Ætherling took down countless opponents during the course of the tournament, often literally on its own. Mostly it found a home in a new breed of blue-white-red or blue-white control decks with very few creatures. Keeping Restoration Angel in your hand is tricky when everyone around you seems to be running Lifebane Zombie, so quite a number of players pre-empted the problem by having no Angel at all in the first place. The result was a more control-oriented approach — and a perfect fit for Ætherling.

Bant Hexproof was one of the biggest stories of the weekend, putting three people through day one with perfect 9-0 records, being the fourth most-played deck on day two, and even placing two of its pilots in the Top 8. The Geist is arguably the most powerful of all the hexproof creatures in the format, and in their Top 8 profile, both Denniz Rachid and Niklas Ramquist called it the most important card in their deck.

Basically, everyone was in agreement that, of all the cards from Magic 2014 , Scavenging Ooze had the biggest impact on Standard. Lifebane Zombie may have taken a close second here, and surely the Zombie's influence was felt more immediately. But that's the point exactly: Scavenging Ooze's effect on the metagame was so profound that nowadays you hardly get to see any Unburial Rites anymore. Junk Reanimator was one of the most popular decks of this year's Standard season and now it's just gone. So the only reason you don't see Scavenging Ooze demolish Reanimator is, there is no more Reanimator.

Rookie of the Year Felipe Tapia Becerra said it best when he claimed: "Lotleth Troll is broken!" And just to prove it, he made it all the way to the finals here in Warsaw. Whether it's the manaless boost ability, the trample, or the regeneration, not to mention graveyard and tribal synergies, the Troll is such a troll, always having another surprise in store for opponents on the wrong side of this monster. So let's repeat: Lotleth Troll is broken.

No one packs as big a punch and hits quite as quickly as the devil straight from hell. Brian Kibler's Gruul aggro deck had dominated the Trials on Friday, it then was the second most-played deck in day two, and in the end it also won the whole show in the hands of champion Wenzel Krautmann. One of the things that puts the current incarnation of Gruul above its competition is the fact that it can be both: lightning fast as well as surprisingly persistent over the long haul. Hellrider plays a role here and there, is often part of the blisteringly quick kills but also provides additional reach later on in the game.